Where dogs rule

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Heather Kyte, who run's Annie's Place All Breed Rescue in Milford, is shown recently with some of her charges. Kyte houses dogs in her kitchen before they are adopted to families locally and all around the Northeast. Kyte hopes to raise enough money, or to accept a generous donation of land or space, so she can expand the rescue and move it outside of her home. Karen Lovett photo

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Heather Kyte, who run's Annie's Place All Breed Rescue in Milford, is shown recently with some of her charges. Kyte houses dogs in her kitchen before they are adopted to families locally and all around the Northeast. Kyte hopes to raise enough money, or to accept a generous donation of land or space, so she can expand the rescue and move it outside of her home. Karen Lovett photo

Enlarge

Heather Kyte, who run's Annie's Place All Breed Rescue in Milford, is shown recently with some of her charges. Kyte houses dogs in her kitchen before they are adopted to families locally and all around the Northeast. Kyte hopes to raise enough money, or to accept a generous donation of land or space, so she can expand the rescue and move it outside of her home. Karen Lovett photo

Enlarge

Heather Kyte, who run's Annie's Place All Breed Rescue in Milford, is shown recently with some of her charges. Kyte houses dogs in her kitchen before they are adopted to families locally and all around the Northeast. Kyte hopes to raise enough money, or to accept a generous donation of land or space, so she can expand the rescue and move it outside of her home. Karen Lovett photo

Enlarge

MILFORD – Inside Heather Kyte’s modest kitchen, six little dogs threw themselves into a wrestling match that would rival the WWE.

Sheltie mix “Tommy” and his brother, “Harry,” tumbled playfully with other sibling hounds “Nellie” and “Popper.” A black and white bulldog mix “Logan” then piled on. “Missy,” a spunky but small Yorkie, sprinted around the heap, baiting the others with a beat-up water bottle.

“Okay, okay!” Kyte called from the kitchen table. Ears perking at her voice, the puppies turned tail and stampeded toward her chair. The puppies absolutely attacked her with kisses.

So went a typical day in the life at the Kyte home on Jennison Road, where she runs Annie’s Place, All Breed Rescue.

“They’re eating my floor,” Kyte said with a wry laugh, rubbing Nellie’s brindle head. “They’re killing my house. …I want my home back.”

For four years, Kyte, 64, has temporarily fostered dogs that are shipped from Arkansas, Alabama and other Southern states. From there, she arranges adoptions with local families, and those as far as Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York. Each year, Kyte arranges for hundreds of adoptions.

Kyte loves the work. Her furry clients, she said, “show unconditional love.” Most of all, she wants to give dogs from Southern “kill shelters” a chance at a happy, healthy life.

“A dog up here is part of the family,” Kyte said. “A dog there is an object.”

Exploding population

The dog population is exploding in the South because many owners don’t believe in spaying or neutering, Kyte said. The result is often neglected and abused animals.

Still, despite Kyte’s passion for animals, running a rescue in her house is getting a little hairy.

“It’s total chaos,” Kyte said, describing her property, where she also keeps five of her own dogs, two horses, two peacocks, two cats, and a menagerie of birds. “My kids had their friends over and they’d say, ‘Welcome to the petting zoo.’”

Kyte’s license, issued by the state of New Hampshire, allows her to keep eight foster dogs at a time. Most, she said, are adopted within two weeks. Last week, Tennessee natives “Tommy,” “Harry,” “Popper and “Nellie” were taking up her kitchen. (“Logan” and “Missy” belong to Kyte’s friend and mother.)

She was expecting three more pups from Arkansas during the weekend, and another three in coming days. Adoption agreements were already in place for several of them.

In her home, Kyte washes and bleaches the kitchen floor so frequently that the water has crept under her kitchen tiles, loosening them. Previous furry tenants have chewed the tiles clear off the floor.

One time, Kyte was shuffling through her papers to become a non-profit organization when the phone rang. After she hung up, she discovered one of the dogs had lunched on the paperwork.

Didn’t she guess that opening a rescue would render her house a giant chew toy?

“Yes,” Kyte said, pausing. “This is why I need a building.”

Kyte said she hopes to raise money, or accept a donation of land or rental space, so that she can save and adopt out more dogs in an expanded space. Eventually, Kyte wants to add for-profit elements to her operation, such as an attached dog park and a facility for training and education.

At Annie’s, adoption fees are $375. Of that, $125 is for transportation costs, and the rest covers veterinarian bills, vaccinations, and boarding costs. Since Annie’s is a non-profit, Kyte doesn’t make money on the rescue. Her husband, Tom Kyte, works with computers, and she receives disability assistance for a back injury.

So far, she’s raised $500 in donations and has applied for a variety of grants. She also held a number of fundraisers, including an event in which dogs could have their pictures taken with Santa.

Kyte hopes a generous member of the community might come forward with a solution or way to help. Until then, it’ll be the dog days of winter at Annie’s.